


In Plain Sight

by Cat_Moon



Series: Half Breed: Season Three [2]
Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 17:33:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2590196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Cat_Moon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth’s working on a new story for Buzz Wire. Sara, Shane, and Josef are still coming to terms with what happened to her. The universe isn’t making it easy for any of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Prologue** :  
  
Los Angeles, California:  
  
  
 _Humans have been known to lead double lives. The travelling salesman who has a wife on each coast, maybe a couple sets of kids to go with it. Gays who are in the closet, some of them with a family who has no clue that ‘guys night out’ means out cruising guys. People suffering from MPD bounce back and forth between any number of personalities and lives. Even super heroes usually have a secret identity. What all these have in common is that most of the time the lives they’re juggling eventually drop. It rarely ends well, and takes a huge toll on everyone. I’m currently watching my best friend navigate a relationship quagmire that even stretches the boundaries of normal for vampires. So where does that leave me? I straddle the fence between vampire and human, trying to live in both worlds at the same time. Will I beat the odds, or ultimately fail? All I can do is cherish each moment, and take a page from Shane’s book and try not to worry about tomorrow._  
  
  
Is there a standard definition for normal? To each his own; one person’s normal is another’s downright weird. To Mick St. John it was something as simple as a late night in bed with his wife, wearing his red silk pajamas bottoms and watching a Steve McQueen movie, Beth next to him working on her laptop. These were the moments that he forgot, just for a brief period, that he wasn’t human.  
  
Only part of Mick’s attention was on the television screen. He snuck glances at Beth periodically, she ignored them. Finally, during a commercial, he muted the sound and turned to her.  
  
“Okay, you’ve been brooding all night. What is it?” he asked.  
  
“Is it that obvious?”  
  
“To the man who loves you, yeah.”  
  
Beth bit her lip in concentration; Mick schooled himself to focus on her words not her mouth. “It’s the story I reported on today.”  
  
Mick nodded his head in understanding. “It’s always tough when there are children involved.” She had done the piece on a fifteen year old girl who had gone to the mall with friends, and never returned home. The police had no clues or leads. Carl had given her the green light to appeal to the public, hoping they’d get a tip from someone who knew something.  
  
“It’s more than just that.” Beth took a breath. “A psychic came forward offering to help find the girl. Mo’s over the moon, she wants me to do a series of pieces on the psychic as he does his thing.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m torn. This kind of thing could hurt my career as a serious journalist, but if there’s even a _chance_ he’s legit…”  
  
“Wait a minute – are you saying you believe in psychics?”  
  
“I didn’t believe in vampires, but it turns out they’re real.”  
  
“Touché.”  
  
“It gets worse. She wants me to do them live, so I won’t even be able to pull the piece if I end up with egg on my face.”  
  
“So turn it down,” Mick suggested.  
  
Beth shook her head. “If I do she’ll only get someone else to do it.”  
  
“And that would be bad, because?”  
  
“Because it might become a farce. At least with me doing it, it’ll have a prayer of staying focused on the girl.”  
  
“I’ll help you,” Mick offered. “It _is_ my specialty after all, finding missing children.”  
  
Beth shared a smile with him, both of them thinking about his rescue of one particular little blond girl. Then she got that glint in her eye that Mick knew meant she was plotting. “That way I could cover all the bases,” she mused aloud. You’d better stay behind the scenes though; we can compare notes in private.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Just in case this guy _is_ psychic. He might ‘sense’ something…about you.”  
  
Mick smirked. “Not likely.”  
  
“Humor me.”  
  
Mick cleared his throat. “Well, now that we’ve broached the topic of other supposedly mythical creatures, I guess it’s a good time to have that talk with you about werewolves…”  
  
Beth’s eyes got big as saucers. “They’re real? Are you serious?!”  
  
After a beat, Mick broke into a huge grin. “Nope. Be kind of cool though, wouldn’t it?”  
  
“You!” Beth pounced on him in retaliation. The mock scuffling turned into more amorous activities, and Mick forgot all about Steve McQueen.  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

  
Fairbanks, Alaska:

  
When you’ve been a gyn as long as Dr. Liza Miller, you know the signs. A nervous young girl coming in, not a regular patient. She lived down in Resurrection, which had its own doctors. She requested tests for all the STD’s. With the University so close by, Liza had seen more of that kind of thing than she’d like to. Adding the fact that she was a rape survivor herself to the mix, she wasn’t easily fooled. When she saw the forms Ms. Adams had filled out, she decided to handle the whole process herself rather than let her nurse do the preliminaries as she normally would.

Dr. Miller glanced down at the chart in front of her, then back up at her patient, carefully keeping her voice neutral. “I see here that you want to be tested for STD’s,” she began. “Do we need to do a pregnancy test too?”

Sara shook her head. “No, I get the birth control shot.”

“When was the date of your last shot?”

“Uh, hold on.” Sara pulled her date book out of her bag and began thumbing through the pages. She went back over it again, growing alarm in her expression. She looked up at the doctor. “Uh, I’ve been really busy the last few months, travelling with my boyfriend. I forgot to get it.” It had been easy to overlook, since she was only with Shane and didn’t need birth control, she’d only kept up with it so that she wouldn’t have to deal with a period every month.

The doctor patted her arm reassuringly. “The chances of being pregnant are slim; it usually takes at least nine months to become pregnant after your last shot. We’ll do the test though, just to be safe.”

After the exam was over, Dr. Miller tried gently bringing up the subject of counseling, and was promptly shot down and basically told to mind her own business. The girl had a strong personality; Liza could only hope that it would see her through and that all the test results were good.

 

XXX

 

Shane couldn’t have told you what the movie was about if you put a gun with silver bullets to his head. Stretched out across the couch with his head pillowed on Sara’s lap, he pretended to watch while his thoughts were a million miles away. He’d finally gotten Sara to go get tested. It should have been a relief to have that part over with…but it looked like the universe didn’t plan on being that kind.

Amid the noises of the doctor’s office, Shane had caught a phrase that focused his attention on the conversation in the exam room. Pregnancy test. For some reason neither of them had given that possibility a thought, and he was relieved to hear that the chances of Sara being pregnant from what happened at the college and a missed shot was slight.

That was before he heard it.

It took him about ten minutes of listening with his eyes closed to admit to himself that the sound he heard was another heartbeat.

How was he going to tell her this? Now, when she was putting what happened behind her and things were just getting back to normal. It seemed like a cruel joke.

It took a few more moments to realize that Sara was amusedly poking his arm, the movie had ended and he was apparently giving the mouth wash commercial just as much concentration.

Shane swung his legs over and sat up, grabbing the remote to mute the sound. “Honey, we need to talk.”

“Honey? Okay, this obviously isn’t going to be good.”

“I have no fucking clue how to tell you this, so I’m just gonna say it right out. You are pregnant.”

He was met with dead silence. “No, I can’t be,” Sara finally whispered in disbelief. It didn’t take a vampire to know that the news wasn’t well received.

Shane took her hand in his. “I hear the baby’s heartbeat,” he told her gently.

“Fuck,” she said, angry tears welling up in her eyes.

He choked up in empathetic reaction. “Listen, I want you to know that whatever you decide, I’ll support you one hundred percent. I only ask that you take some time to think about it before you make any decisions.”

Sara pulled her hand out of his and wrapped her arms around herself. “Why?” she asked crossly.

“Because this could be your only chance to have a kid. You won’t be getting any from me, and after you’re turned you won’t have the option.”

“You want me to have this kid?” Sara asked in an accusing voice.

Shane ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I’m still getting over the shock.” As hard as it was to think about how it had happened and who the father was, he just couldn’t dismiss the fact that the baby was a part of Sara. He didn’t know if he could see it destroyed or given to someone else to raise. On the other hand, this was a scenario he’d never envisioned for himself, and his life plans had never included children. Unlike some vamps, he didn't regret it.

“This is gonna ruin everything!”

“I didn’t exactly plan on this, either,” Shane told her. He acknowledged to himself that no matter how he felt about it, she was the one who would be going through it, so it was her decision. It wasn’t a subject you heard much about. How did women in that position deal with having a child and seeing their attacker every time they looked at it?

Sara got up from the couch. Shane started to stand too, but she stopped him with a hand. “I need to be alone,” she told him.

He watched her disappear down the hall, and heard the bedroom door close.

“Fuck.”

 

XXX

 

Shane sat in the back yard, watching the last of the night slowly fade and enjoying the cold winter air. He looked down at the cell phone in his hand, and then hit the speed dial.

After a couple of rings, Josef picked up. “How’s Sara?” he asked immediately.

Shane hesitated before speaking. “I was hoping we could put what happened behind us, but the universe keeps having other ideas.”

“I’m gonna stop answering the phone when you call,” Josef groused. “It’s always bad news anymore.”

“Sara’s pregnant.”

There was a long silence over the line. Eventually, Josef’s quiet voice returned. “How’s she taking it?”

“How would you take it if you found out you were carrying some dead slim ball’s baby? I don’t know how to feel about it myself. I convinced her to give it some time before she makes a decision about what to do, but…”

“Come down to L.A. now,” Josef said decisively. The band was taking a break, and they weren’t due back at the Rock and Roll Rodeo for several weeks, so the plan had been to spend the time in Alaska. “A change of scenery would be good for her. “I’ll send the plane for you.”

“Different scenery isn’t going to fix this mess,” Shane told him.

“Come to L.A.” Josef insisted.

 

XXX

 

Los Angeles:

 

Beth was sitting at her computer at work, scrolling through her emails when the phone rang. She picked it up and answered distractedly, eye still on the screen. “Beth St. John.”

“Hey Nora,” Josef greeted fondly.

“Hey Josef,” Beth responded, minimizing the window and turning her attention to the call. “What’s up?”

“You know that favor you owe me?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“I’m calling in your marker…”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth meets the psychic. Can he help them find the missing girl? Before it's too late?

  
Los Angeles:  
  
  
Beth surveyed the man Maureen was introducing her to with a reporter’s eye. Thomas Spring, the psychic. He was about 5’7, with twinkling blue eyes and light brown hair. She guessed him to only be in his early twenties, which was a surprise. He was wearing a green polo shirt and tan jeans.  
  
“Tom, this is Beth St. John, the reporter you’ll be working with,” Mo said, then turned her attention to Beth. “Now remember, we need regular updates to hold the public’s interest. The more dramatic, the better. I know you won’t let me down, you’re a magnet for this kind of stuff!” Satisfied that the ball was rolling on the assignment, she turned on her heel and headed for her office.  
  
“Uh, it’s nice to meet you,” Beth said, accepting the proffered handshake.  
  
Thomas held her hand a few seconds longer than expected, looking into her eyes intently. “I’m twenty one,” he said.  
  
Beth raised her eyebrow questioningly.  
  
“You weren’t expecting me to be so young,” Tom answered with a grin.  
  
 _He probably gets that all the time_ , Beth thought to herself. It was hardly proof of ESP. “Before we get started, I have a few questions for you,” she told him.  
  
“Of course you do.”  
  
“What do you want to get out of this? Fame, reward money, book deal?”  
  
“If there is a reward offered I’ll accept it,” Tom admitted. “You get paid to use your particular skills to do _your_   job. But finding the girl and hopefully getting her home to her parents is what it’s all about.”  
  
Beth nodded. “Is this your full time job?”  
  
“You haven’t investigated me,” he noted.  
  
“Haven’t had time yet,” Beth replied.  
  
“I have a radio show in Seattle. I’m looking to relocate down here, where there are more opportunities.”  
  
Beth wondered if he was angling for a job at Buzz Wire. “What kind of a show is it?”  
  
“The subject is psychic phenomena. People call in and I answer their questions if I can, also give them tips on honing their own psychic skills.” He paused, giving her a quizzical look. “You doubt, but you shouldn’t…” It was almost a question.  
  
Doubt yes, shouldn’t, because she’d already seen things that weren’t supposed to be possible – or to exist. Beth decided not to even _think_ the V word around this guy. Just in case. “Okay, let’s pick up Steve, our cameraman, and head to the mall. That’s where she was last seen.”  
  
“It doesn’t work like that,” Tom explained as he followed Beth down the hall. “I’ll need to go to her house, see her room, touch something of hers. I don’t have to be anywhere near the place she disappeared to get a hit.”  
  
“A hit?” she queried as they rounded the corner and ran into Steve coming from the other direction.  
  
“That’s what we call it. An impression, a flash of her surroundings or emotions.”  
  
“We,” Beth asked, nodding a greeting to Steve.  
  
Tom sighed. “One would think you’re interviewing _me_ for a story. I inherited the gift from my father.”  
  
“Tom Spring, this is Steve Balfour, he’ll be our cameraman.”  
  
“Pleased to meet you,” Tom said as they shook hands. “Sorry about the breakup,” he added almost as an afterthought.  
  
“Wow, you knew I’d broken up with my girlfriend just from shaking my hand?”  
  
“It’s not an exact science, sometimes I get luckier than others.”  
  
“Change of plans,” Beth told Steve, pulling him along by the sleeve, finding herself annoyed with his apparent gullibility. “We’re going to the girl’s house first.”  
  
“Hey, whatever, I’m easy.”  
  
“Parlor tricks,” Beth whispered to Steve as they led the way to the news van.  
  


XXX

  
The desperate parents were willing to do anything that might help find their daughter, so they had no objections to opening her room to a psychic. Beth made sure to emphasize that they should place most of their confidence in the police, not ESP, she didn’t want them to get their hopes up. Beth herself was placing all _her_ confidence in Mick.  
  
“Don’t you think you were a little hard on the parents?” Tom asked Beth when the three had been left alone in the girl’s room. “Sometimes hope is all we have to hold onto.”  
  
“There are different kinds of hope,” Beth replied. “Realistic and grasping at straws.”  
  
“Your confidence in me is overwhelming,” Tom quipped dryly. “You know, human beings are an arrogant breed with minds firmly closed. Whatever time period we live in, we’re always convinced we know _everything_. Yet there are so many mysteries we haven't solved, so much more to this world than we can imagine. There was a time when man was convinced the earth was flat, and in medieval times, bleeding and leeches was the cutting edge of medical knowledge.”  
  
“A gullible breed too,” Beth responded. “In 1938 we actually thought _Martians_ had landed because of a radio show.”  
  
Steve looked up from where he was checking his camera, raising a hand. “I read that doctors have found leeches have a lot of medical uses after all, like preventing blood clots during surgery.”  
  
Beth glared at Steve. “Are you ready to shoot?” She wasn’t sure why she was so against the possibility of Spring being the real thing, especially after all she’d seen and experienced since meeting vampires. And it would only help her reputation if he _did_ help find the girl. So why was she determined to prove him a phony?  
  
“Ready,” Steve answered, pointing the camera at her.  
  
After Steve filmed Beth doing an intro for the first segment of her series, Tom wandered around the room, randomly touching various items; a stuffed bear that was on the bed, the pillow, a hairbrush. He would periodically still and close his eyes as if in deep concentration. Steve got some footage of that. Meanwhile, Beth made herself useful snooping around to see if she could find any evidence of what had happened to Brandy Travers. She glanced at the playlists on the mp3 player, looked through a photo album on the shelf. She even found the diary, hidden behind the dresser – the same place she’d hidden hers as a teen. Nothing she saw or read hinted at any unhappiness or hidden secrets; it confirmed the hypothesis the cops were proceeding on; that Brandy had not left voluntarily.  
  
“She’s nearby!” Tom exclaimed with surprise coloring his voice.  
  
Beth looked up at him. He was standing in the middle of the room, clutching Brandy’s pillow close to him. “Where?”  
  
“Somewhere…close,” Tom continued, his tone distant. “It’s dark, she can’t move… She’s terrified; she thinks she’s going to die…” His eyes focused on Beth and he seemed to come back to himself. “She isn’t far from here. I _know_ it,” he insisted.  
  
“That doesn’t give us much to go on.” Beth bit her lip, undecided.  
  
“If I’m right the police are wasting their time checking bus stations and mall employees,” Tom pointed out.  
  
“I’ll talk to Lt. Davis,” she capitulated.

  
XXX

  
In that space between Beth going to bed and Mick starting his ‘day,’ they compared notes on the case.  
  
“I guess it’s my turn to do the research,” Mick flashed a grin. “First of all, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences says that in over 130 years of research there’s no scientific justification to the belief in psychics.”  
  
“I wish I’d known that before I talked to Carl,” Beth told him. “Spring is convinced that the girl is somewhere right under everyone’s nose. He agreed to Tom’s idea of having the neighbors organize a search starting tomorrow morning.”  
  
“Nothing wrong with that,” Mick said. “At the least they can cross that possibility off the list.”  
  
“That’s what Carl said.”  
  
“There’s not much else I can do either at this point, the cops have airports and bus and train stations covered, they’ve issued the alert and are canvassing the mall… There’s a tip line and flyers the family posted everywhere. I’ll check out the neighborhood myself tomorrow night after the searchers are in bed, see if I can sense anything.”  
  
“That makes me feel a lot more relieved,” Beth admitted. “I know if there’s anything to find there, you’ll find it.”  
  
Mick gave her a smile and a kiss on the cheek. “Your confidence in me is good for my ego.”  
  
“What else did you find out?” she asked, still all business.  
  
“I checked out Spring. There’s not too much on him. He has a psychic radio show in Seattle, until now he’s been pretty low profile. His father, on the other hand…”  
  
“You checked out his father too?”  
  
“The apple doesn’t usually fall very far from the tree. Charlie Spring wrote a book in the mid-90’s called ‘Doubting Thomases.’ He was quite a grandstander, loved getting himself in the spotlight by helping the police and tipping off the reporters behind their backs. I talked to the detective who was assigned to one of those cases, a Jim Ellison up in Cascade Washington. He was cautious, skeptical, but he admitted that Charlie did help find a kidnapped young girl. The clues he gave were pretty obscure, though.”  
  
Beth ran both hands through her hair in frustration. “I hate this story. I’ll be glad when it’s all over.”  
  
Mick rubbed her back comfortingly. “Get some sleep. Things will seem fresher in the morning.”  
  
“What, I’m just going to go to bed, to sleep?” Beth teased suggestively.  
  
“Well, if you’re tired…” Mick said, playing along.  
  
“I need something to relax me, and you need something to kick start your day,” Beth returned with an inviting smile. “And I know just the thing…” she told him, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and leading him up to the bedroom.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: some characters and situations that sound familiar and aren’t from ML, probably belong to Petfly Productions. I don’t own them, they just inspired this story. ;)


	4. Chapter 4

The street in front of the Travers’ house was already busy at 8:am. Neighbors milled about, waiting to start beating the bushes. A police officer that Davis had spared to help organize the search was giving instructions and trying to organize an orderly grid pattern. Tom was in the middle of the action, and Steve was getting a lot of footage. Beth reluctantly did her report on the scene.  
  
When she was done filming, one of the neighbors approached her. “Hey, um, what’s all the excitement?” he asked.  
  
“You must know about the missing girl,” Beth responded. “There’s a search of the area being organized.”  
  
“I had a feeling it was something to do with that,” the man said. “I’m Ray Patrice, I live across the street. Brandy was a good girl, not like those wild ones that run around. But I thought she disappeared from the mall?”  
  
“She did, they just want to be sure they cover all the bases.” Beth hoped her shortness wasn’t noticed; she just wasn’t in the mood to deal with the attention-seekers that appeared every time there was a news crew around, hoping to get themselves on camera.  
  
“I wish I could help,” Ray continued. I’m off work, out on disability, hurt my back. So I’ve got lots of time but I’m afraid I’m not good for much walking right now.”  
  
Beth pointed to the cop overseeing the search. “Why don’t you check with Officer Rheingold, maybe there’s another way you can assist.”  
  
“Thanks! I’ll do that,” Ray told her, shuffling off toward the center of activity.  
  
“What now?” Steve asked her. “Interview some of the neighbors?”  
  
“Maybe, I…” Beth glanced at her watch as she spoke. “Shit, I’ve gotta run. I have an appointment to get to. Just, uh, get some more footage of the search. We can run it later. I’ll check back this afternoon, but call me if anything happens!”  
  
“Will do.”

  
  
XXX

  
The atmosphere at Josef’s was somber. Quiet. The three vampires were up past their ‘bedtime.’ By some unspoken mutual agreement, it seemed both Josef and Mick had decided to lend their support to Shane by staying with him until Sara returned from her doctor’s appointment. The girl hadn’t been particularly interested in going, but she hadn’t had a check up since finding out about the pregnancy, and when Beth suggested an obstetrician she’d done a story on once who was supposed to be the best in L.A., Sara gave in to the urging of the others.  
  
Josef hadn’t said much of anything about the subject, but Mick was troubled by what he’d seen. Sara’s personality had seemed to undergo a total change. Gone was the strong, opinionated, spitfire he’d come to know. In her place was a quiet, listless shadow who deferred to Shane most of the time, having him speak for her and content to let others make her decisions.  
  
“You okay?” Mick asked Shane, wanting to break the uncomfortable silence but not really sure what to say. What could anyone say in a situation like this?  
  
Shane rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, I’m okay. Sara’s not.”  
  
“She will be,” Josef said, squeezing one of his brother’s shoulders.  
  
“I don’t think she wants this baby,” Shane continued. “Trouble is, she knows how I feel about it. I’m afraid she’ll do something she doesn’t really want to, just because I do.”  
  
“Give her some time, she may come around,” Josef suggested.  
  
“Josef’s right,” Mick added. His expression turned wistful. “I think I know how you’re feeling right now. If it was Beth… I’d feel blessed to be able to be a father to a child that was part of _her_ , no matter who was biologically. A blond haired, blue eyed little Beth…” he trailed off, lost in the daydream for a moment, and then snapped out of it with an embarrassed blink. “And I think that, knowing how I felt, she would come to love it too.”  
  
“Didn’t you know _the_ blond haired—“  
  
Josef’s sentence was abruptly cut off when Shane smacked him in the chest hard enough to knock the air out of him that was needed for speech. “That was so inappropriate,” he warned.  
  
“I love inappropriate,” Josef muttered under his breath, but apparently decided to behave himself.  
  
“We’re here,” Mick told Shane, after a glare at his friend. “We’ll do whatever we can to help out.”  
  
“Thanks,” Shane answered, seeming to be moved by the offer.

  
XXX

  
Beth pulled the Prius into a parking space at the doctor’s office, shutting off the engine. The two women sat in silence for a moment.  
  
“You want to get something to eat after the appointment?” Beth offered.  
  
“I guess, if you want,” Sara answered listlessly. “I’m not really hungry.”  
  
“Gotta keep up your strength,” Beth cajoled. “You’re eating for two now.”  
  
Sara stared straight ahead through the windshield. “I don’t really care about this baby. Does that make me a bad person?”  
  
“Oh, honey…” Beth slipped an arm around Sara’s shoulders. Her heart broke for this young girl, her friend, but she was glad that Sara seemed to be opening up a bit. “No, it makes you human. You’re going through a really hard time right now. Don’t try to force yourself to feel something you don’t. For now, just take it one day at a time.”  
  
“I always do.”  
  
“And the first step is to go inside and have your exam.” Beth stashed the car keys in her bag, and opened the door.  
  
As the two women began walking toward the entrance, Sara spoke up again. “Is the doctor gonna do any nasty tests? You know, invasive kinda stuff?”  
  
“Well, um, you know…” Beth hemmed and hawed, not knowing how to answer her.  
  
“I don’t even like the gynecologist,” Sara complained.  
  
“It sucks to be a woman. And human,” Beth added, trying to interject some humor.  
  
“Will you come in with me?” Sara asked in a small voice.  
  
Beth blinked away tears of emotion, hoping they didn’t show. Sara’s behavior was so strikingly different from her usual toughness; it brought the reality of recent events in the girl’s life into painful focus. Just nineteen and pregnant, no mother to turn to for comfort and support. “Sure,” she answered, unable to say more over the lump in her throat. Everything _had_ to work out. The alternative was simply not acceptable.  
  
“Do you think Shane would hate me if I… decided to get rid of the baby?”  
  
Beth put her arms around Sara and hugged her close. “Shane could _never_ hate you. Let’s just give it some time, okay?” she asked, crossing her fingers behind her back.  
  


XXX  
  


Dr. Stacy Maris performed a very thorough examination, much to Sara’s chagrin. When it was over, the doctor ushered both women into her office to for the final consultation. As Sara took a seat, Beth remained standing behind her supportively.  
  
“Well, Ms. Adams, everything is looking fine,” Maris assured. She peered over her glasses at Sara, a slight smile hinting at her lips. “We did the vaginal ultrasound you so strongly objected to so that I could predict your due date, since you weren’t able to provide reliable information on your last period.”  
  
“Yeah, you told me that,” Sara said crossly. “And I told you I must be around four weeks.” She looked down at her lap, uncomfortable. It wasn’t easy trying to explain to a doctor how you could be so certain of that, without revealing _how_   she knew the exact day. Something she had no intention of doing.  
  
Stacy sat back in her chair. “Yes, well, while I respect mother’s intuition, in this case it’s trumped by medical science. The scan clearly shows you to be approximately 7 weeks. I’m giving you a due date of July 10th.”  
  
“What?” Sara whispered, eyes wide. She was dimly aware of Beth’s hands closing on her shoulders almost painfully tight. “There…must be some mistake….”  
  
“I may not be able to pin it down to exact day, but I assure you there’s a huge difference between a four week and a seven week ultrasound. You’re definitely almost two months pregnant.”  
  
Hand covering her mouth, Sara whipped around to stare at Beth, who was already wearing a huge smile. “Oh my god…” she began, voice wavering with emotion. “That…that means…”  
  
 _The baby is Shane’s._  
  
Beth nodded happily. “Yes it does.”  
  
“Oh my god!” Sara screamed, jumping out of her seat to hug Beth. “It’s _his_!”  
  
“I am so happy for you,” Beth told her, no longer bothering to try and hide her tears.  
  
Dr. Maris was regarding the two of them curiously. “Did I miss something?” she inquired.  
  
Sara found she was now able to think fast again, and improvised an explanation for their outbursts. “Okay, I didn’t want to admit it, but I was with my ex recently and I thought it was his. You confirmed that it’s my boyfriend’s.”  
  
It was doubtful Sara heard another word of what was said after that, something about prenatal vitamins and making an appointment for the start of regular checkups. Luckily, Beth handled all those details for her.  
  
They walked out into the late morning sun, steps much lighter than they’d been on the way in.  
  
“Let’s stop for lunch at the Hamburger Hamlet, I’m starved,” Sara said. “Let’s go to the one in the mall, I might want to do a little shopping.”  
  
Beth just grinned at the girl. Their Sara was back.  
  



	5. Chapter 5

  
Three vampires looked up when the door opened to admit the returning women, each face reflecting something different; one sympathetic, one impassive, and one tentative. The first thing that was glaringly noticeable to all was the change in Sara from when they last saw her just a few hours ago. She had a milkshake in one hand and a shopping bag in the other, and was in an animated conversation with Beth.  
  
“You were too out of control,” Beth was telling Sara with a grin.  
  
“I only got a couple of things, besides, can you blame me?”  
  
“Just the same, I’m not going shopping with you anymore. It’s scary.”  
  
“Yes you are,” Sara returned, elbowing her. “And I’m so getting the ‘question authority’ onesie next time. Ya gotta raise a kid right.”  
  
Beth did a mock shudder and laughed. Finally both noticed they had a confused audience and lapsed into silence.  
  
“Uh, everything go okay?” Shane asked hesitantly.  
  
“Everything’s great,” Sara answered with an enigmatic smile.  
  
“I didn’t know going to the doctor was that much fun, but I know something’s going on…” he ventured suspiciously.  
  
Sara walked over to the couch where he was sitting and grabbed his hand. “C’mon in the other room, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”  
  
Once the couple had disappeared into the guest wing of the house, Beth pumped a fist in the air and let out a triumphant YES!  
  
Josef’s expression changed immediately too, the serious face he’d been wearing moments ago gave way to a satisfied air. “How did you find out so fast? DNA results take awhile.”  
  
“DNA?” Mick echoed, leaning forward in his seat.  
  
“Yes they do, but when the attack happened barely a month ago and she’s seven weeks pregnant…” Beth answered.  
  
With that, Mick finally got a clue. “Are you saying…” Beth nodded, grinning. “ _Shane_ is the father of the baby?”  
  
Beth and Josef high fived each other, then she dropped onto the arm of the chair he was sitting in. “Nice poker face, by the way,” she told him. “Stone cold poker face on the outside, positively giddy on the inside.” She jabbed a finger into his side to highlight her point.  
  
“I don’t do giddy,” Josef answered, sounding affronted.  
  
“Right,” she returned, clearly unbelieving.  
  
“Okay, I’m just a dumb private eye, but I get the feeling you two have been collaborating behind people’s backs,” Mick said, then aimed his next words at Josef. “You arranged to have a DNA test done on the baby?”  
  
Josef nodded. “It was Beth’s job to get her to the doctor.”  
  
“What made you think it might be his?”  
  
Josef smiled mysteriously. “Let’s just say I had a _hunch_ Shane was the father.”  
  
“Wow.” Mick settled back into the chair, looking as if the whole thing was just starting to sink in.  
  
“I would have loved to see his reaction,” Josef said with a smirk and a nod towards the other wing.  
  
XXX  
  
When they were in the bedroom with the door closed behind them, Sara tossed her bag on the dresser and told Shane to sit down. Eyes never leaving her, he perched on the edge of the bed almost gingerly.  
  
“So… what’s going on?” Shane asked with a half smile. It was great to see her feeling better, but the change was so drastic and sudden that he was a bit worried about what could have caused it. “You said everything’s okay?”  
  
“Everything is _right_ now,” she answered with an odd emphasis. “The doctor said everything looks just fine, and since I’m seven weeks along, she gave me a due date of July 10th.”  
  
Shane was nodding before he’d truly processed the words. “That’s good to hear, but—wait, you mean four weeks.”  
  
Sara shook her head. “I’m seven weeks.”  
  
Shane was _really_ confused now. “But the uh, party was a month ago.”  
  
Sara nodded, her grin widening. “Do you remember when you said that there’s _no_ way I’d be getting pregnant from a 1000 year old vampire?” He stared at her as if she was speaking a foreign language, so she elaborated. “You were wrong!”  
  
Shane could have sworn he was sitting on the edge of the bed, but suddenly he found himself on his butt on the floor, with no idea how he’d gotten there.  
  
“What?” he whispered, not trusting his ears. They were obviously faulty.  
  
Sara’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “The baby is yours.”  
  
“My…” The very idea was something he’d completely ruled out almost one thousand years ago. The reality was almost too much to comprehend. “Mine?” he said incredulously, having found his voice.  
  
Sara nodded emphatically, the movement dislodging a few of the tears.  
  
“Mine.” He shook his head as if to clear it from the hallucination he was having. “Oh my god.”  
  
“It’s…okay, isn’t it?” Sara asked tentatively, mostly certain it was, but I bit of doubt coloring her tone. He _was_ still on the floor.  
  
Her words galvanized him into action. He scrambled to his feet and wrapped his arms around her, holding tightly. “Yeah, it’s right,” he murmured. “I’m just a little…shocked.”  
  
Sara snorted. “Yeah, I got that.”  
  
Shane took her face in his hands. “I love you, you know,” he told her, drawing her closer for a kiss. When they drew apart, he rested his forehead against hers. “Holy crap – we’re gonna be _parents_.”  
  
“Surreal, isn’t it?”  
  
Now that his brain was kicking into gear again, Shane thought about the significance of Sara’s change in attitude. “It makes that much difference to you?” he asked. “That it’s mine?” He felt humbled, awed, about a million other things he couldn’t begin to define.  
  
Sara wrapped her arms around his waist again. “I know having a kid is something neither of us ever planned on. When I first found out, when I thought it…wasn’t yours, it felt _wrong_ , like it wasn’t supposed to happen. Now it feels right.”  
  
Overwhelmed by the reality of Sara, that he held two very precious people in his arms right now, Shane blinked away threatening moisture. How far his girl had come, in such a short period of time, yet he was more aware of her youth now than he had been in a long time. Feeling his way tentatively through the maze of new emotions, he spent a silent moment listening again to the new heartbeat, only to break his focus with a panicky abruptness when the knowledge washed over him that this was _his_ flesh and blood he was listening to, a part of him as well as Sara.  
  
“I’m gonna be freaked out for awhile,” Shane admitted.  
  
“It’s okay, we can be freaked out together,” Sara told him. She pulled away to retrieve the bag from the dresser. “Let me show you what I got at the mall,” she said with a shy smile.  
  
Shane returned it, and they sat down on the bed together. All of a sudden they were bashful around each other, a bizarre phenomenon he could not explain.  
  
Sara pulled the first item of clothing out of the bag, holding it up. “Okay, this one is just, you know, for me.” It was a maternity top with a thought balloon on the front that said, “Daddy’s awesome.”  
  
  
  
 _I think I’m going to cry now_ , Shane told himself, but fought the urge valiantly.  
  
Almost as if sensing his mood, Sara quickly put it back and pulled out the next item. “Check this out – is this the coolest thing you ever saw, or what?” This one was a baby T-shirt that said Headbanger on it.  
  
  
  
“I like that one,” Shane said with a grin.  
  
“And this one is my favorite.” The last piece was revealed. It was another baby top; this one had a guitar on it and said, ‘dad rocks.’  
  
  
  
 **Dad**.  
  
His mood swung again, to terror at the idea of being a father. Shane recalled hearing about women having mood swings during pregnancy, but until now he hadn’t realized men got them too. He stared at the tiny garment, zoning on the size of it and the thought of a baby _in_ it. His baby.  
  
“Earth to Shane.” Sara was snapping her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.  
  
“I think I need to lie down,” he told her, kicking his shoes off and stretching out on the bed. Sara joined him, snuggling up with her head on his chest. His hand somehow found its way onto her stomach, and he clenched his teeth against the resulting tidal wave of feelings.  
  
“I want you to know,” Sara began, “that this is _not_ going to change who we are. I figure, when you live forever, taking 18 years or so to raise a kid isn’t bad.”  
  
“Drop in the bucket,” Shane agreed, wondering if he was going to be best buddies with the panic for eighteen years.  
  
“Other than that, we’re still gonna live the life we want to.”  
  
Shane decided the best option right now would be to not think about anything. It was too _huge_ to contemplate, until he got more used to the idea.  
  
XXX  
  
 _Everything you are is everything to me…  
And these are the moments, I know all I need is this   
I’ve found all I’ve waited for, and I could not ask for more…_  
\--Edwin McCain, "I Could Not Ask for More"  
  
  
  
By now it was _way_ past vampire bedtime, but Josef found himself unwilling to surrender to the day. So he lay there listening to the music coming quietly from the stereo system, and contemplating…life.  
  
With just a whisper of sound, slight breeze of movement, a stealthy body slipped into the bed behind him.  
  
“I’m not asleep, you know.”  
  
“Of course I do,” Shane returned with one of his irrepressible grins.  
  
“Where’s Sara?” The VIP for the next seven months.  
  
“Doing internet research,” Shane answered with a grimace that Josef could feel even though he couldn’t see it. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea…” he trailed off. “She ordered me to get some rest.”  
  
“I suppose there’s some sort of psychological precedent for vampires falling for pushy human women.”  
  
Shane chose to ignore the comment. “Speaking of resting… you stole my idea.” He was referring to the fact that they were currently in Josef’s bed in his master suite, and it was a pretty comfortable 37 degrees. Specially made heavy duty drapes shut out the glaring daylight, making it almost cave-like.  
  
Josef shrugged. “I’m not giving up the comfort of my freezer every day, but it’s okay on occasion.”  
  
Shane put a hand on Josef’s shoulder, turning him over to face him. “You seem to be taking this very well.” No need to clarify what _this_ was.  
  
Josef allowed a small grin. “I have a confession to make.”  
  
Shane sighed loudly. “I hate when you start conversations like that.”  
  
“It’s not exactly the same shock to me as it was to you,” Josef admitted.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Beth didn’t arrange the doctor, I did. I was pretty certain it was yours – but I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up by saying anything until there was proof,” he rushed to add.   
  
“How the hell did you know, ‘cause I’m _still_   in shock?!”  
  
“I think you were missing the obvious.” Josef grinned smugly. “Vampires _can_ have children --- if they couldn’t, a lot of us wouldn’t be here. You’ve been sleeping with Sara for eight months now, and you think one random night with the dead slim ball got her pregnant?” Josef made tsking noises. “And of course there’s the prophesy; I mean, you can’t create a new race without procreating…”  
  
“Fucking Oracle never told me about _this_ ,” Shane grumbled to himself.  
  
“Then there was my vision. I saw other things besides--what I told you about. I saw you praying with old man Whitley and then killing him – before it ever happened. And I saw you holding your baby daughter for the first time.”  
  
 _Daughter_. Shane felt faint again. “Holy shit – I’m going to be a father.”  
  
Josef grinned at his words, but didn’t comment.  
  
“I think it’s my turn to have a nervous breakdown,” Shane informed Josef, pillowing his head on his chest.  
  
“You’ll do fine,” Josef said softly. “You’re going to be a great father.”  
  
“What the hell do I know about being a father?!” Shane demanded.  
  
“Trust me,” Josef soothed. “And you’re not alone. You’ve got a lot of help.”  
  
They lapsed into companionable silence for awhile, Josef rubbing a comforting hand up and down Shane’s arm.  
  
“Pick a house, any house,” Josef finally broke the quiet.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Next door, across the street. Pick which one you want.”  
  
Shane decided to play along. “Are they for sale?”  
  
Josef waved it off as of no consequence. “I’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse.”  
  
“What, you want me to be a kept man?” Shane teased.  
  
“So call it a loan,” Josef continued with a touch of impatience.  
  
“What if you have to pay way over market value to get them to sell? I mean, Sara and I aren’t poor but maybe we don’t want to pay way more than it’s worth.” Shane was enjoying being difficult.  
  
“So you can pay me the market value,” Josef continued doggedly. “I’ll cover the rest. It’s worth it to me, to have you here.”  
  
“Hmm…so you’re gonna be my slum lord.”  
  
“Is that a yes?” Josef asked with an eye roll.  
  
Shane smiled. “Yes,” he answered, and sealed it with a kiss.  
  
Maybe Josef hadn’t been totally honest with Beth. He might do giddy, for special occasions. Like Shane needing _him_ for a change. A child that was a part of Shane to be an uncle to. Shane a bit more settled, living next door. And most importantly, having the one thing he’d only recently come to realize he wanted. A family.  
  
 _…And I could not ask for more._  
  



	6. Chapter 6

Mick sat on the bed with his pants in his hand. He’d grabbed a few hours of freezer time and was supposed to be getting dressed to go take a look around Brandy’s neighborhood for himself. Instead, he was just sitting there staring into space.  
  
Beth stood in front of him, hands on her hips. “Mick.”  
  
He looked up, startled to see her standing over him. “Yeah?” he answered distractedly.  
  
Beth shook her head and sat down beside him. “You want to tell me what’s wrong? You’ve been brooding ever since we got back from Josef’s.”  
  
Mick was silent for a few moments, then finally met her eyes reluctantly. “It’s just that I, uh… Not that I’m not happy for Shane and Sara, but…”  
  
“Ah,” Beth said quietly, getting it.  
  
“I’m jealous,” Mick admitted. With the admission, the dam opened. “Why them? They didn’t even _want_ any kids. I can’t help wishing it was us.”  
  
Beth slipped her arm through Mick’s and put her head down on his shoulder, pausing to choose her words carefully. They’d never discussed the issue beyond deciding not to use birth control that night last year, and she’d never shared her feelings on the subject with him. Not even after they’d heard about the prophesy. She didn’t have the heart to tell him she was just as glad it was Sara and not her. Right now she was focused on her career. Left to her own devices, she’d probably happily wait until her biological clock began its self destruct countdown before thinking about it. Beth knew Mick’s feelings were very different.  
  
“Do you believe in the prophesy?” she asked him.  
  
“I don’t know, I’m taking a wait and see attitude about that. I know vampires can sometimes make babies, obviously. Whether they _do_ or not…”  
  
“In my experience this past year, the universe has its own plans, and timetable. I think we just need to be patient and have faith that everything will happen the way it’s meant to.”  
  
“That’s a lot of faith.” For someone who’d been convinced right up until recently that the universe hated him.  
  
“There are ways even for people who can’t have children to have children,” she ventured.  
  
“Yeah, I’m sure we’d pass the adoption investigation, as long as we assure them I’ll have a child-proof lock on the freezer I sleep in,” Mick snapped sarcastically, unable to stop the bitterness from entering his tone. “And as far as artificial insemination goes, I just don’t know if the vampire in me could stand by and watch you have another man’s baby even if it _is_ anonymous donor. I’m sorry,” he said after a beat, now contrite over his outburst.  
  
Beth rubbed his arm comfortingly. “I would have thought the news might make you optimistic rather than get you down,” she said, puzzled.  
  
Mick sighed. “I guess I’m thinking, what are the chances of a coincidence like that happening? Both Shane and myself fathering a child?”  
  
Beth almost laughed at him. “Who said _coincidence_ has anything to do with any of this?”  
  
Mick shrugged and stared down at the pants still in his hands. “I just don’t know.”  
  
“We’ve got time,” Beth told him gently, giving his arm a hug. “It’s not like we’ve been waiting _years_. Let’s not lose hope yet, okay?”  
  
“I’ll be okay,” Mick said, giving her a half-hearted smile, one that said it might take awhile for him to be as magnanimous toward the happy couple as he should be.  
  
Beth watched Mick get dressed, knowing there were things they should talk about but unable to bring herself to voice them. She had a feeling it didn’t matter what either of them wanted or didn’t want. The universe would do what _it_ wanted. Beyond that, another thought nagged at her. Would Mick still be as enthusiastic about turning her if she was the mother of a young child? Would he get all freaky on her again, or insist on waiting until the child was an adult? Her biological clock may not be ticking, but perhaps her immortality clock was. She didn’t ask, because she was afraid of the answer.  
  


XXX

  
Mick prowled the dark residential streets, blending in with the shadows and silently gliding past the houses. The night was his time, and he couldn’t help his enjoyment at being out in it. When humans rested, vampires ruled.  
  
Being ‘on the hunt’ as Beth called it, was good for clearing the mind of things you’d rather not think about. Mick focused on his surroundings, letting his senses take in the area. It was past midnight on a weekday, so most of the residents of Brandy’s neighborhood were asleep. Even her parents; her father tossed and turned fitfully, gripped by nightmares while her mother slept the sleep that only a strong dose of sleeping pills could provide. The couple three doors down was fucking; he couldn’t help his groin from tightening at the woman’s cries which reminded him of Beth’s… he wrenched his hearing away from that direction, only to be confronted by a baby crying.   
  
Disoriented at the combined sounds, it took Mick a moment to notice the rustling of a lurking presence in the shadowy side yard of Brandy’s house. He was there in a flash, gun out and ready – only to come face to face with Thomas Spring.  
  
“What the hell are _you_ doing here?!” Mick hissed at him.  
  
“Uh…” Spring was staring nervously at the gun pointed at him.  
  
Mick gave an eye roll and put the gun away, pulling out his P.I credentials instead.  
  
Tom’s eyes widened for a second as their hands brushed in the passing over of the I.D., then he was shining the beam of a flashlight on the document. “Mick St. John?” he asked with a surprised eyebrow raise.  
  
“I’m helping investigate the girl’s disappearance. And you’re the psychic. Why are you here?”  
  
“Are you related to Beth?”  
  
“Some psychic you are,” Mick opined. “I’m her husband. Now I’m asking you again, what are you doing here?”  
  
“I wanted to see if I could pick up any further impressions from the area. Sometimes it’s easier after everyone has gone to bed, less psychic ‘noise’ if you will. What do _you_ hope to accomplish by lurking around in the middle of the night?”  
  
“I work better when it’s quiet too,” Mick answered, discomfited.  
  
“Yes, I see it now,” Tom told him. “You and Beth make a great team, but there’s something about a… fragile blossom?” he said in a confused tone.  
  
“You can just quit the mumbo-jumbo okay, because I—“Mick broke off abruptly as a snatch of conversation came to him that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Oddly, Tom fell silent as well, and they both stood there as Mick zeroed in on what he was hearing. It was a voice, but only one.  
  
“Damn psychic has ruined everything,” a man was saying. “They were supposed to be looking for you at the mall.” He paced the floor back and forth in agitation. “I so wanted to have more time with you, but I’m afraid I can’t keep you here with them snooping around.”  
  
There was another voice now, muffled, probably by tape or a rag in her mouth, terrified whimpers.  
  
“Don’t you worry, pretty Brandy. You’ve pleased me well, and as a reward I’ll make sure you don’t suffer.”  
  
Smells, blood and…other things that made Mick almost gag in disgust. The sick bastard had already made sure the girl suffered. He rounded a wild-eyed look at Tom, mind scrambling to come up with a ruse, knowing he had no time to spend trying to convince the psychic to leave the scene.  
  
Mick grabbed the man by the front of his shirt. “Listen to me carefully, I don’t have time to play games. I’m here checking on an anonymous tip. If you really want to help this girl you’ll do as I say. Get the hell out of the neighborhood, and when you’re on the next block call the police. Tell them you heard some suspicious noises coming from the house across the street from the missing girl’s and they need to get here immediately. You can tell the press that it was your tip later; you’ll be the hero of the day. If you screw up, I’ll be glad to tell them all about how your father manipulated the press and put a girl’s life in danger to get publicity – the same thing you’ve just done. Your psychic career will be over.”  
  
For a moment Tom looked about to argue, then he just nodded jerkily and turned, hurrying off down the street.  
  
Satisfied that one obstacle was out of the way, Mick was free to deal with the kidnapper. He swiftly crossed the street, creeping around the side of the house and planning his next move. Brandy was being held in the basement. The windows were painted black, but he focused his vampire sight in the small crack between the window and the house, getting a look at the scene.  
  
The man was still pacing, muttering to himself now. Mick had no desire or need to hear the actual words so he ignored them. Brandy was chained to the wooden railing of the stairs. Her clothes were dirty and torn; there were cuts visible including a nasty gash on her temple just above her eye. There was a rag stuffed into her mouth. Her petrified eyes darted back and forth, watching her abductor as he paced in front of her.  
  
Not officially on the case, Mick had no desire to get involved publically in Brandy’s rescue, especially with a psychic hanging around. As much as the vampire in him wanted to see this predator taken out permanently, subtle would work just as well. For now, anyway. He walked over to the table on the patio where he found an assortment of tools spread out, including one of those huge, heavy, plumber’s wrenches. It would do. Using a rag also on the table to pick it up with and keep his fingerprints off the weapon, Mick hefted the tool and swung it at the back door, connecting solidly and making a loud bang. Loud enough to be heard inside the house but not enough to wake the whole neighborhood.  
  
There was a curse and the light in the basement was quickly extinguished. Footsteps on the stairs told Mick that he’d taken the bait and was coming outside to investigate. Good. That’s exactly what Mick wanted, to get him away from Brandy.  
  
Mick waited, anticipation running through his nervous system as it always did when a vampire was hunting prey. It was a thrill he was slightly ashamed of, but he consoled himself with the knowledge that he only ‘hunted’ those who deserved it, who preyed upon those weaker and unable to defend themselves. And no one deserved it more than those who would take a child’s innocence.  
  
Mick tensed when the door opened slowly, backing away into the shadows at the corner of the house. The man cautiously crept outside, scanning the area for the source of the noise.  
  
“Psst…” Mick whispered just enough to draw the man toward him.  
  
The loud, unexpected meow of a tom cat startled them both.  
  
“Damn cat, if I catch you I’m going to rip your legs off,” the man growled, and Mick had no doubt of his sincerity.  
  
Mick stepped out of the shadows right in front of him. “Sorry, but there’s a monkey wrench in your plans,” he said with a fanged smile, and brought the tool down hard on the man’s head.  
  
Satisfied that the man would be unconscious for a long time but wasn’t dead, Mick left him there and slipped through the house to the basement. He left the light off so Brandy couldn’t identify him, but needed to reassure her so she wouldn’t live in terror another second.  
  
“It’s gonna be all right, Brandy,” Mick reassured as quietly as he could, but she still jumped at the voice. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her, reaching for the chain that held her. After a bit of effort, one of the links came apart and released her from her bonds. The girl collapsed onto the floor, too weak to hold herself up.  
  
“The police will be here soon,” Mick continued, pulling the rag from her mouth. The girl immediately began sobbing. He checked her vitals, which were strong. “He won’t ever hurt you again, I promise.”  
  
“Who…who are you?” Brandy whispered in a raspy voice.  
  
“Just someone who’s been looking for you.” If his plan came together the way he wanted it to, she and everyone else would make assumptions about whom that was. Assumptions the person would hopefully be only too happy to encourage.  
  
“It’s over.”  
  
Mick remained with her until he could hear the sound of the police sirens, then slipped away to watch from a safe distance as the cops found the girl and her abductor, and he knew that she was safe.  
  


XXX

  
Beth stood in front of the camera with a bright smile. The kidnapper’s house was visible in the background as she gave her report. “Acting on a tip from psychic Thomas Spring, police found the missing girl, Brandy Travers, late last night. It turns out, as Thomas told us earlier; Brandy was indeed being hidden in plain sight. She was being held in the basement of a neighbor’s house. The neighbor, Ray Patrice, was taken into custody after being treated by paramedics for injuries he received during her rescue.”  
  
Beth turned to Thomas Spring, who was standing next to her, basking in the spotlight. “Tom, tell us how you found the girl,” she asked, turning the microphone toward him.  
  
“The visions I get aren’t always accurate, sometimes I don’t know what they mean. But in this case I _knew_ Brandy was somewhere close by. Late at night when everyone is asleep, the psychic ‘noise’ is quieter and it’s easier to pick up things, so I decided to return to the neighborhood to see if I could get any more hits. Something, some feeling led me to peek into a basement window where I saw a light on and that sicko had her there, chained up.”  
  
“Did you really hit him with a wrench?” Beth asked.  
  
Tom grinned sheepishly. “All I was thinking about was getting him away from her so he couldn’t hurt her anymore. I’d already called the police, but who knows what he might do before they got there. So I made a noise and when he came out to investigate…”  
  
“That was clever thinking, Tom.”  
  
“Not to the police,” he told her. “They chewed me out for interfering with an ongoing investigation.”  
  
“That would be Carl,” Beth said under her breath, amused.  
  
“As well they should,” Tom stated. “And in normal circumstances I _always_ let the police handle it. No normal civilian should ever try to play hero.”  
  
“Good advice,” Beth said, and turned her attention back to the camera again. “Brandy is currently at Country General being treated for injuries sustained during her captivity. Due to privacy concerns, the details of those injuries aren’t being released, but we’ve been told that she will make a full recovery.”  
  
Maureen was on the scene too, standing over by the news van. Beth could see her frowning at her star crime reporter, but she just couldn’t stomach airing the sordid details at the moment. She knew she couldn’t stop them from being revealed, but she could hold it off for awhile in respect for the family. Brandy was young and would probably recover quickly physically. Emotionally, it was another story. She would undoubtedly have a long road ahead of her. At least she was safe.

  
  
XXX

  
Mick watched the newscast and crowd gathered in the street from a discreet distance, enjoying the sense of satisfaction he always got when a dangerous predator was removed as a threat. If the legal system was ever stupid enough to release him from prison…well, there were other kinds of justice that were a lot swifter.  
  
“Fancy meeting you here Mr. St. John,” Tom Spring said. Mick had been so intent on watching the scene that he hadn’t noticed the psychic approaching.  
  
“If it isn’t the hero of the day,” Mick answered with a smirk.  
  
“I have to wonder why anyone would pass up easy publicity. It’s always good for the career, no matter what your career is.”  
  
“Some of us are more interested in saving innocent lives than making ourselves look heroic,” Mick returned.  
  
Tom had the grace to look shamed. “We all have our flaws,” he allowed. “Things we’ve done that we’re not proud of.”  
  
Mick glanced away, the words bringing up a subject he still wasn’t comfortable with, and not wanting that to show on his face for the snoopy psychic to see. If Spring really had ESP Mick would have expected meeting a _vampire_ to engender some sort of noticeable reaction. It hadn’t, but still there had been a few weird moments…  
  
“By the way,” Tom began, seemingly wanting to drop touchy subjects and make more neutral conversation. “I think it’s really great how you and Beth split up the household duties.”  
  
“Huh?” Mick said, having no idea what the man was talking about.  
  
“Well, it’s not every man who would be willing to curtail his own career to stay at home and take care of the children while his wife pursues hers,” Tom explained with a glance over to where Beth was wrapping up her report.  
  
“We don’t have any…” Mick began slowly.  
  
 _Tom’s gaze whipped back to Mick at his puzzled response. “Oh uh, you know, I’ve got to run. Sorry, but Maureen wants to talk to me about a position at Buzz Wire,” he continued nervously, and then retreated hastily._  
  
 _Children??_  
  
  



	7. Epilogue (Something to Believe In)

  
  
Mick sat at the desk in his office, going over some case files. He could hear Beth moving around in the other room; the domestic sounds never failed to sooth him. Despite being a bachelor for so long, he hadn’t had any trouble at all adjusting to having Beth in his space. She _fit_  there, just like she was meant to be. The place had been oppressively lonely before, empty rooms where darkness reigned. Beth brought with her the light.  
  
Mick fell into a daydream, imagining that the sounds also included the bright, excited voices of children. Could it really work? Could a vampire raise a family? Yes, on rare occasions one of them fathered a child, but he’d never heard of any living the normal family life. Aldo had left his own; he’d only been with them for a couple of years before he fled. Maybe it was a good idea Shane was going first after all, Mick could watch and take notes.  
  
Lost in his thoughts, Mick only peripherally heard the ringing of the phone, and Beth’s voice answering. When her voice abruptly changed though, he was brought back to reality with a rush. Sensing her distress, Mick was quickly at her side.  
  
“Dammit!” Beth exclaimed, slamming down the telephone receiver.  
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
When she turned to look at him, Mick could see she was blinking eyes that were suspiciously shiny. “Brandy’s dead.”  
  
The shocking words hit him so hard he could just stare at her for a moment as they tried to sink in. “What? I don’t understand, they said she was going to be fine! How?”  
  
“They said it was from a blow to her head she received in her captivity. There was severe brain injury. She… lost consciousness and never woke up.”  
  
“How the hell could they miss that?!” Mick demanded, sorrow making him angry.  
  
“I…don’t know,” Beth murmured helplessly.  
  
Mick drew her to him, holding her close as they both fought to accept the news. “Dammit,” he echoed her, only more quietly. It hit him hard whenever he couldn’t save someone, and to think he had only to find out it was all for nothing… He felt like a failure. If only he’d searched the neighborhood earlier, when they first heard about the disappearance, maybe he would have found her before her fatal injury. Like everyone else, he’d assumed Brandy was taken from the mall area and it never occurred to him to do a check of her street. Not until it was too late. Not until a psychic insisted she was nearby. Across the fucking street! What good was having these special vampire abilities if he was too stupid to use them right.  
  
“There’s nothing anyone could have done,” Beth said quietly, as if reading his thoughts.  
  
Knowing and believing however, could sometimes be two different things.

  
XXX

  
Thomas Spring downed his second drink in five minutes, signaling for another. It was early yet and the bar wasn’t even half full, it was dark and quiet as if in respect for the dead.  
  
“Getting smashed isn’t going to bring her back, man,” Steve told him. He stared glumly into his drink and thought about the brief interview with Brandy that he’d shot for Beth; allowed by the family as a ‘thank you’ to them for helping to bring their daughter home safely. It wasn’t often a news team got that lucky, families rarely allowed interviews so soon after such a traumatic event. Buzz Wire had gotten a record number of hits before; now, the number would only climb as it was rerun over and over and over in the wake of the news about her death. What a great boon for everyone’s career. Yet all he could muster himself to feel was sick to his stomach.  
  
Tom pointed an inebriated finger at him. “You think this psychic stuff is so cool, being able to tell you about your girlfriend and find lost puppies. _This_ is the part you don’t hear about, my friend. It _sucks_ to be able to ‘see’ things. Because you can’t always do anything about it. It doesn’t always _help_!” he almost-yelled. “I found her, the hero of the day!” he growled self-disgustedly. “But I didn’t find her in time, did I? So what good is this ‘gift’ of mine!”  
  
“We just do the best we can,” Steve muttered, sounding as if he was trying to convince _both_ of them.  
  
“Maybe that’s not good enough.”

  
  
XXX

  
The two vampires found her outside, sitting against the wall by the pool and staring out over the growing lights of L.A. It had just gotten dark. She had a blanket wrapped around her to ward off the chill of the winter night in Southern California.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Shane asked in concern, dropping down next to Sara as Josef did the same on the other side. The tears in her eyes now were not happy ones.  
  
“That girl that was missing?” Sara began. “She died.”  
  
Shane waited. He knew here had to be more to the story. News of the death of some girl she didn’t know shouldn’t have caused such distress.  
  
Sara wiped away the wetness from her face. “When Beth told me about her, it made me think how lucky I am. What happened to me was _nothing_ , not compared to the horrible things Brandy went though. It put things in perspective, you know? I mean, not that I was the one making too big of a deal about it...” she added meaningfully, clearly referring to them.  
  
“It sucks,” Shane agreed, not knowing what else to say. He wrapped his arm around her and shared a confused glance with Josef over her head.  
  
“But I just don’t understand... it wasn’t supposed to happen.” Sorrow and confusion colored Sara’s tone. “One day she’s walking around, everything normal and great, and then… she’s just… gone. Just like that. Forever. Her family will never see her again.”  
  
The light was beginning to dawn for Shane, who remembered another unexpected and shocking loss. Sara had never been one for easily expressing emotion, always keeping up her tough front. She was like Josef in that way. She took the loss of her mother stoically, and maybe had never properly let it out.  
  
Sara rested her forehead on her drawn up knees. “It made me think about… I’m going to have a baby and my mom isn’t _here_ , she’ll never see her grandchild.”  
  
The empathetic tears had already welled up before Sara had even finished her sentence. How does a vampire comfort a human on matters of mortality? It’s not easy. Only time could mute that kind of pain.  
  
“I just want her _here_ ,” she continued, visibly fighting sobs.  
  
“Oh baby… “Shane murmured, kissing her face and hugging her tightly. “I would do _anything_ to make things different for you.”  
  
Josef slid his own arm around Sara. “Sometimes in life things happen that we can’t understand, they don’t make any sense,” he said, thinking of Sarah Whitley. “Why wasn’t Brandy okay after she was saved by the good guys, why didn’t your Aunt Sarah wake up after I turned her…why did your mother have to die. It hurts because we feel like the universe betrayed us.”  
  
“Yes, that’s it exactly!” Sara said, raising her head to look at him. “ _Why_?”  
  
Josef shrugged helplessly. “I wish I had some wisdom for you but unfortunately after 400 years I still don’t understand it. But you’re not alone,” he said, repeating his earlier words to Shane. “You’ve got a lot of help and support here, us, Beth and Mick…”  
  
“Speaking of family,” Shane added, thinking he knew something that might lift her spirits some. “We’ve got to break the news to Ethan that he’s going to be a grandfather.”  
  
Sara covered her mouth with a hand, letting out a watery laugh. “Oh my God, that’s right. He’s gonna flip!”  
  
Shane groaned in mock reluctance at the thought of facing her father. Suddenly a scene from the past came to him. A night at the Adams’ dinner table that felt like decades ago instead of only a few years. He’d just solved the problem of Sara fighting at school and her parents were obliviously grateful.  
  
 _“It’s too bad you don’t have kids of your own,” Ethan had told him. “You’d make a good father. You’re great with kids.”_  
  
Shane and Sara both had thought that was pretty funny at the time. Bizarre how none of them would have ever guessed what the future was going to hold.  
  
They lapsed into silence for awhile, two vampires lending their comforting presence to one human as best they could.  
  
After calming down a bit, Sara glanced sideways at Shane, her serious expression indicating she was looking to him, the 1032 year old vampire, for something important. “Do you believe that people go ‘somewhere’ after they die?”  
  
A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature went through Josef at her words, words too similar to ones he’d heard before in a future that he prayed he’d changed. _Do you think there’s a heaven?  _  He watched Shane intently as he waited with her for the answer.  
  
Shane finally nodded. “I still believe in the Gods of my people. Even after all this time, even with Max using them against us to trick us,” he admitted. “I’ve always thought the joke was on him. Maybe he caught Loki’s attention,” Shane said with a small grin. It was a very private thing to him, like his Viking past it was something he took very seriously but didn’t talk about.  
  
“You really do believe you are Odin’s chosen?” Josef asked, stunned to be finding this out about Shane after all these centuries.  
  
“Yes,” Shane answered simply. “Christianity had come to Norway in my time but many resisted. Me, I think maybe the Gods can appear in any form they want to, so different cultures have different ways of worshipping based on their needs.”  
  
Sara looked pensive at Shane’s answer. “I never thought about this stuff before. Funny, you’d think if you’re a vampire and gonna live forever you don’t _need_ to be bothered believing in something – but maybe you need it even more.”  
  
“I guess everybody needs something to believe in,” Josef agreed. Perhaps truer words had never been spoken. Especially as the centuries wore on, what happened to a vampire’s soul if he had nothing to hold onto? Josef’s mind returned again to his Vision, what he’d told Sara in that possible future. _I think Shane was god._ Mick had his Christian God, Shane still believed in the Norse pantheon, what had sustained Josef over the long centuries?  
  
Josef believed in Shane.  
  
As they watched the city below from their three-way embrace, Shane began softly singing a Poison song from the 1980’s.  
  
 _“And it just makes me wonder why so many lose and so few win…_  
 _Give me something to believe in, if there’s a Lord above._  
 _Give me something to believe in…”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I intended to end the story with a happy ending, Brandy being fine after her rescue. Then while writing this story, a co-worker of mine passed away. He was fine, joking with everyone like always, then he just collapsed. At the hospital they found out he had a brain tumor, and a week later he was dead. It influenced the direction of this last part, I felt a need to show the fragility of life and explore the shock and confusion death can cause.


End file.
